


We Were Never Boy Scouts

by Wolfsheart



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cuddling & Snuggling, Friends to Lovers, Huddling For Warmth, M/M, Magic-Users, Mission Fic, Mission took a detour, Stuck in BFE Siberia, Surprise Kissing, There's only one bed (sort of), snow is everywhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21837634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfsheart/pseuds/Wolfsheart
Summary: Steve and Loki teleport to Siberia to retrieve all the data on Bucky in order to help fix his conditioning from the facility where he was kept. They don't land exactly where they're supposed to and have to find shelter for the night in order to orient themselves to make sure the mission goes smoother than it started out. Not exactly, "Oh look, there's only one bed," because Loki magics the sleeping arrangements into the shelter they find and thinks it will work best for maximum body heat for survival.  So close enough.
Relationships: Loki & Steve Rogers, Loki/Steve Rogers
Comments: 37
Kudos: 98





	We Were Never Boy Scouts

**Author's Note:**

> This started out a prompt from the Happy Steve Bingo last year, which I got a bingo card for and then promptly fell ill to the horrors of brain block. The prompt was "You're So Warm." Obviously, that bingo is WAY past due, but I'm still going to take the prompts from the bingo card to play with just for my own creative exercise and fun. The boys decided to go further than I first planned. They didn't ask me if they could. They just decided to do what they wanted to do.

*****

_A frost giant and a once-frozen centenarian walk into a bar..._

*****

That's where the joke ends. That bar isn't really a bar. It's the middle of nowhere in the North Siberian Lowland, and there isn't a structure or building or _person_ in sight. 

"Golly, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore." 

Loki's eyes twinkle with mischief as he turns to see if his companion is as impressed by his Midgardian cultural reference as he is. 

"I don't think we're anywhere near Yatutsk," Steve says. He's braced his hands on his hips. His breath forms ghosts. The air bites his cheeks, nose, and ear-tips until they're red. Loki's reference hasn't been missed by Steve, but he's not in the mood for a joke **.** "I thought you could teleport us anywhere." 

He closes his eyes. Takes Thor's advice regarding a Midgardian calming trick by counting to ten. Several deep breaths keep him from yelling at the good Captain. 

"I can teleport us anywhere. I _did_ teleport us 'anywhere'. But I'm not from Russia nor am I from your planet, so I can't get you to exact locations when I haven't been to them, especially not when they seem to be in the middle of Frost-Etin wastelands." 

He looks at Steve, whose gaze is faraway. 

"Etin is..." 

"Giant. I know. When you first came to Earth, I brushed up on the Eddas...even the ones not translated by Snorri." 

Steve's eyes meet Loki's, blue to green in a field of white. "I had time to kill once I stumbled on Fury's little secret stash of weapons, so I did some reading." 

Loki pulls his lips back into a grin. Steve reaches up as if to tug a coat tighter around himself, only there is no coat. 

"I'm impressed. Were you checking to see if there were clues to my downfall in your Midgardian myths of my people?" he asks. Loki reaches out and touches Steve's chest, mouthing an incantation; green fires spreads from his palm, but it's mostly illusory. 

Steve jumps when Loki sets his hand on his chest and nearly flings himself away from the Trickster the moment he catches sight of the flames, but when the warmth from the spell spreads through him and doesn't burn, he stills and allows it to surround him like the cloak the other man wore. He steps close again to allow Loki the contact with his body to complete the magic. 

"That's...nice. Thanks," he says and spares a side-eyed glance at this enemy turned shady ally. "And yeah. I mean...maybe? I don't really know. I hadn't been out of the ice that long, and the last time I'd been awake, we didn't have aliens or wannabe gods..."

"Hardly a 'wannabe' anything, Captain Rogers," Loki tsks and turns away from Steve to survey their surroundings. 

Rolling his eyes, Steve drones, "Whatever you are, Loki, I tried to at least study the culture's myths that were likely...somehow...based on your own. Yours and Thor's. I don't know what good I thought it would do." 

Loki listens to Steve, but while he listens, he also creates a search spell in the form of a glowing green hawk.

"Find shelter," he commands in a gentle whisper. Loki murmurs a few more words over it that Steve can't understand, and then he releases it into the air, that last seiðr making it undetected to anyone but himself and the soldier. "Soon, we should have a place to take refuge, at least for a few hours while I do what I can to figure out where we are and how to get us on track for our mission. I would assume that Sargent Barnes would appreciate all the answers we can bring him," Loki states as he glances back over his shoulder at Steve. "As for the other, it's an admirable attempt, Captain Rogers, to understand us that way. I certainly wasn't in the frame of mind to educate you." 

Steve stares down at his snow-covered boots and his sigh is already full of the apology about to come. 

"About that, Loki. I...I'm sorry we didn't find a better way to...figure out that you weren't...in your right mind. I mean, seeing Bucky all brainwashed before we managed to bring him back...you two could've almost been twins..." 

A reassuring and perfunctory pat-pat-pat to Steve's upper arm brings his eyes back up to the man who easily towers over him by at least half a foot. 

"Don't. None of you could've known. Except maybe for Thor, but he wasn't exactly happy with me or the fact that he believed me dead. He was too busy being angry with me to notice that I wasn't...well," Loki explains in a tone far more gentle than he'd used in the past with Steve. Or with any of them since he'd been brought into the tower as what could only be described as a political refugee turned ally for survival. "It's not something you should trouble yourself with, Captain. It is what it is, and we just...move forward," Loki adds as he drops his hand away from Steve's arm. 

At first, Loki's words make him feel guiltier, but Steve affects his best poker face, nods to the prince, and tries to get back to the focus of the mission. 

"Fair enough, Loki. I suppose moving forward is...just the best thing we can do," he accedes and braces his hands on his hips, as if he doesn't know what else to do with them. 

Speech drops off for a few seconds, a few minutes, while Loki looks to the black starry sky above them, searching for his scout. 

Finally, Steve breaks the silence again. 

"For what it's worth, Loki, I'm..." He clears his throat but not because he's being insincere. "...I appreciate that you're on...on our side now. That you're working with us. And I don't just mean because you just spelled me so I wouldn't freeze to death out here and you'll probably find us some way to not die in the night." 

"Captain...really..." 

Steve shakes his head and crosses his arms over his chest now. 

"No. Loki, please. Life in the tower with us...you knew we didn't exactly want you there, and we weren't exactly offering the glad hand in welcome. You've put up with a lot, and...you did it with a lot more grace than some people would've. You could've...teleported out, changed your appearance, and filtered into society without us ever finding you. Even Stephen Strange would probably have trouble picking up where you were without a lot of help from his people," Steve goes on, as if he wants this said between them to finally create some level of peace. They all live together in the House that Stark Built, and that means more than just a working relationship among them. And, for better or worse or weirdest, that includes Loki, and aside from Bucky, Vision, and J.A.R.V.I.S., someone had to offer up the olive branch. 

Loki puffs out a breath that's visible in front of his face. He tries to keep his emotions in check, which is usually easier than Steve's making it for him right now. There are conditions to his living at the tower as a political refugee, such as behaving as an ally and for the first year, at least, _not_ just apparating to destinations unknown without informing someone on the team of his whereabouts and being accompanied by one of them to keep him from creating problems that would then show up on Earth's doorstep. He absorbs what Steve says, hears that it's not just an extension of the apology he didn't ask for and prevented Steve from giving in too fine a detail. He chews over each and every word, almost wanting to find hidden meanings and motives, wondering how far this honest man would go to tricking the Trickster in some fashion. 

Finally, he clears his throat and looks at Steve out of the corner of his eyes. 

"Thank you, Captain Rogers. Your words...they. They touch me. I appreciate them," Loki says and swallows and hopes that Steve can't pick up on the emotions roiling through him. Emotions. Feelings. _Sentiment_. They've been his downfall so many times in the past. Trusting in the outstretched hand of friendship, of family, of love always bites him in the ass, but something inside Loki, something cold and protective around his war-torn heart, eases back, loosens, and begins to unravel. 

He smiles, though, and turns slightly to look at Steve a little more directly. 

"I could've apparated out, yes. I could've easily disappeared into the crowds with faces none of you have ever seen, but...I haven't. I think I might be safer with the rest of you around. Not safe from any of you, should any of you choose to keep being assholes." 

Steve laughs at Loki's use of Earth swearing and even chuckles a little more to hear it out of that refined mouth. 

"But I am safer among you. I think, if you'll allow a little arrogance in the truth, that you're all safer with me there as well. Your kind are learning about what's out there in the universe." Loki looks up to the sky again, watching the stars flicker through colors millions of light years away, some of them already dead where they are, and he mourns them as most would a beloved mentor. "There's more out there than you realize, and not all of it is friendly. They'll see your weaker species, and they'll prey on you, but now I'm here, as well as my oafish brother, and you have a chance."

Steve finds himself losing himself in Loki's words, in that timbre of voice, in how wise he sounds despite how young he looks. Even with the dark circles he sometimes sports under those piercing green eyes. 

"A chance? A chance for what, Loki?" Steve asks in a voice as soft as the whisper of wind around them.

Staring right into Steve's gaze, Loki answers, "To survive." 

They study each other for a long stretch. The only sounds are the wind and their breathing. Steve opens his mouth to speak. Loki doesn't. 

Above them from the west glows a green flame, and when both men turn to look, the flames define themselves into the hawk Loki spelled to find them shelter. Loki lifts his arm as one skilled in falconry, and the magic bird lands on his hand without the need of a handling glove. He appears to communicate without speaking and finally nods before the hawk dissipates, and Loki looks over at Steve. 

"There's an old trapper's shack a few miles to the west. I have the coordinates, and I can get us there faster so we're not walking in all of this," Loki says. _So that you're not walking in this_ , he thinks about Steve. After all, he's a Jotun, and the cold doesn't affect him the same. 

Steve steps closer. He knows he has to be close to Loki for them to teleport together. He'll have to hold onto Loki...or Loki will have to hold onto him. 

"How are you holding up there, Loki? Magic-wise? Or...I don't know...energy? You've done a lot of it to get us here and keep us concealed...and that warming thing? You sure you're up for porting us to the shack?" Steve asks. He sets his hand on Loki's shoulder, peers into the eyes that try to be cold but have been warming up over and over when Loki thinks no one can see. His own express more concern than he thought he could feel for a former enemy. 

Loki places his hand on top of Steve's, gives it a squeeze to reassure him that his strength has hardly been shot. 

"I'll be fine, Captain Rogers. I haven't performed any extreme magic that would hurt me. Not yet." 

He smiles at Steve then curls his fingers around his hand. A circular opening appears, and Loki tugs Steve, and they go through. Steve's stomach pitches, and he leans into Loki as much as this momentum will allow him to. On the other side, his bulk crashes into Loki, and the Trickster steadies him, as if he barely registers the super soldier's weight. 

Both men need a moment to orient themselves. Loki only lets Steve go when he's confident he can hold himself up without his legs buckling under him. 

"Are you alright, Captain Rogers? I understand that your preferred mode of travel is anything but what we just did, but I assure you that it was faster than walking miles in the snow and running the risk of discovery," Loki says and scrutinizes Steve. 

Steve lets go of Loki as well and nods. 

"This time, I don't want to puke as much," he informs his teammate and half-smiles when Loki laughs. 

"Well, that is a positive thing, I suppose," the Trickster replies. "It gets easier the more you do it," Loki adds. He suspects he'll be a common mode of travel. 

Once steadied, Loki and Steve turn and regard the shack the magic guide led them to. Loki uses his magic to scan for anyone inhabiting it, just in case his bird hadn't picked it up, and he feels the emptiness. 

"We're good to set up inside. No one's there, and from the feel of it, no one's been in there in a long time," Loki says and starts to walk toward it. 

Steve follows, and despite what Loki says, he still keeps his guard up. 

"And you don't think anyone'll show up?" he asks as he walks up to the shack behind Loki, pausing on the porch, which is more for having a place to skin and tan hides or store kills as opposed to a place to sit and enjoy life with a cup of coffee. 

Loki shakes his head. "No, I don't, especially once we're inside. No one will even notice we're here. When I'm done, no one will even notice the cabin," he assures Steve and smiles over at him. 

He turns to face out away from the cabin and concentrates. Loki's breath is visible when he exhales, and he motions with both hands until a half-sphere around the cabin glows for a second then goes invisible. He doesn't even break a sweat. 

"There. Now we'll remain undetected. We can eat, sleep, and figure out how far we are from our mission," Loki states and pats Steve's shoulder before he turns and heads into the shack. 

Steve stares up at the star-laden night for a few breaths and then walks inside after Loki, who has already used his magic to provide them with light and appears to be working on some sort of bedding that might be comfortable enough for them to sleep. 

"And you're sure this won't drain you?" he asks. His concern for Loki slips into his voice. "I mean, we don't know what we're going up against, and I need you ready and able to kick ass if necessary," Steve appends, trying to make it appear more about the mission than his genuine worry about his teammate. 

Loki sees through the tough team leader's words to the soft, squishy core of the actual man who _cares_. It softens his own smile in return. 

"It won't drain me. I tied the magic outside that's hiding us to a stationary point that actually pulsed with energy when I tested it...along with the other things I poked. An old stone that's been here longer than this cabin. It'll relieve any pull from me. In here, this is all...the bedding, the warmth...as much as I dare...it's a child's magic," Loki explains, his own tone gentler than he's used in a long time. The last time...to Vali...or Narvi. He can't remember which son wanted an account of something or other, and he remembers even now that Thor's friends assumed he would turn his sarcastic impatience that they were so familiar with onto his own twins. No, Sigyn and the boys never knew that side of him. 

Steve wanders around the shack, though 'wanders' is more elaborate than the few paces he can go before he has to move in another direction or else stand against a wall. He looks out the window covered in years-old grime and sees nothing for miles but moon-lit snow. When he turns around, Loki is half-undressed. Cloak and armor set aside, boots and socks along with them, and Loki is shrugging out of his tunic while Steve stares, unprepared for the sight of bare skin, onto which he sees scars etched into maps of Loki's past. He didn't think of removing clothes, but obviously the Jotun prince did. 

"Um...shouldn't we...stay...stay ready in case someone realizes we're here and attacks?" he fumbles a little over his question then meets Loki's eyes as if he didn't. 

"Captain Rogers, I assure you, no one will realize we're here. Unless your Hydra has mages like myself who can detect the shield outside or any of the magic I used before we were here," Loki answers, giving the other man an indulgent grin. "We might as well be comfortable...at least, one night. There's no telling how long this mission will take, and I would rather not eat in my armor."

Loki drops his tunic on top of his boots. Otherwise fastidious, he shows no concern about the tidiness of this shack while they're in residence. 

"Eat? Yeah, I suppose we should dip into the tack we brought." 

Steve walks over to the bedding that Loki provided and somehow managed to make appear as comfortable as their beds back at the tower, and he sets his shield down by the cloak and armor, unstraps his helmet and places it against the shield then sits down on one corner of the blankets, and as he settles back, those pale hands offer him a bowl of something hot and smelling as if it came from Heaven's kitchen. 

"Or we eat this...magic stew you...magicked up," he corrects himself, takes the offered bowl, and looks up at Loki, giving a nod and smile. Steve stirs the spoon in the stew and watches while Loki conjures his own and joins him on the stack of blankets, reminding him of the way a relaxed predator-cat would lower itself to the ground, all sleek grace and elegance. "Thanks," he adds and takes the first bite and lets out a moan that is as much surprise as it is pleased that it doesn't taste like cardboard just because it was brought by magic. 

"You're welcome, Captain Rogers. I've been on enough survival trips with Thor throughout our growing up to know that, while hard tack is good for existing in the wilds, it's not very appealing, and right now, I believe you and I can use appealing more than just...enduring," Loki responds before he digs into his own bowl. 

They eat together in silence, close enough to feel the heat off of each other, even though Steve still wears more than Loki at the moment and even though Loki doesn't feel warm exactly like Steve does. As he spoons another bite into his mouth, Steve wonders if that has to do with Loki's true nature, the one that Thor's only whispered about when Loki isn't around. That _otherness_ that neither brother wants to speak about for fear of offending the other or alienating Loki more than he already is. 

"This is good, Loki," Steve breaks the silence as he nears the end of his bowl. "I shouldn't sound surprised. Why would magic create shitty food?" He chuckles and scrapes the bowl of the last bit of gravy, potato, and meat. Whatever meat it is... _was_...it was delicious, and he actually feels human again. 

The Trickster chuckles back. "Thank you, though you'd be surprised. Magic can make food incredibly...shitty...if that's my aim for it. Tonight that wasn't my aim," Loki replies and finishes his own meal. "Want more?"

Steve stares at the bottom of his bowl, the specks of gravy tempting him for more. He wants more. He wants to keep sitting next to Loki, eating magic stew, pretending that this trappers' shack and makeshift bed is home, a home, something domestic and cozy. He glances at Loki, the truth dawning on him that he's just equated 'domestic and cozy' with the Asgardian prince. 

"Yes...but I think I'll pass for now. As much as I hate to turn it down, I think...we ought to get some sleep. Or at least, get ready to sleep and talk about getting our bearings tomorrow." 

Loki takes the bowl with a nod and dismisses both of them and only the scent lingers in Steve's nostrils. The taste on his tongue. He watches Loki crawl further onto the blankets and stretch out like a sated panther, propping himself up on one elbow to stare at him. 

"You've got the Stark tech, Captain Rogers. You might as well get comfortable yourself, and then you can bring up..." Loki wiggles his fingers. He understands technology just fine, even less advanced technology such as Anthony Stark's, but he isn't bothered to remember the Midgardian names for everything. "...the map or whatever we've got." Then he uses his manicured pinky nail to dislodge a piece of meat from his teeth, which he sucks to the back of his tongue and swallows. 

"Uh...yeah." Steve clears his throat and tears his eyes away from the vision laid out in front of him to fumble with the buckles at the sides of his boots, tugging each off to set beside Loki's, along with each sock. "We should definitely have our coordinates down before morning. Do you think a signal can get past your shields out there? Just so we can check in with the others? Fury, as least, will want to know we're here." 

Loki picks up the subtle raise in warmth in Steve and caught on that he was the cause. _Strange_ , he thinks but doesn't say anything. Steve is a soldier, and Loki knows from experience among Asgard's warriors that modesty among the fighting elite doesn't exist. Shyness, modesty, blushing at the sight of bared skin...those just aren't behaviors Loki associates with soldiers, warriors, combatants of any kind. Even Loki lost all of his own discomfort at being spied on unclothed after Thor insisted he spend so much time with him and his friends in the warm springs post-training sessions, especially once his manner of fighting was acceptable during those sessions; though that was mostly _just_ with Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three. Many of Asgard's seasoned fighters still regarded finesse and magic with suspicion. 

"I don't think the shields should block any signal back home," Loki guesses while Steve removes the upper portion of his uniform and the belt around his waist. He sees the hesitation before Steve takes off the tank top and sets it aside. "I haven't really tried technology within my magic protections before, so this will be an adventure." He laughs and catches the way Steve reacts with a shiver up his spine. Loki reaches out a hand to touch Steve's back to see if he's cold. 

Steve tightens up when Loki touches him then relaxes and even arches into the touch. 

"Oh...you're so warm," both men declare at the exact same time.

They laugh together this time, and Steve casts a smile over his shoulder. He frowns a little when Loki drops his hand and rests that pale arm against his hip out of reach. 

"Yes, an adventure," Steve agrees then rummages in his pack for the device Tony gave him before they left.

He turns around and lies on his side facing Loki, and they both study the Stark tech, and Steve manages to press the right buttons until a map pops up between them.

"Hmm...let's...wait, this won't...," Steve fusses and shifts around on the makeshift bed until he's lying next to Loki on his back so that they can both view the map. "...there we go..." 

Now it's Loki's turn to move until he's even closer to Steve and nudges Steve's head to lean against his arm and shoulder like a pillow – something he didn't magic up for them yet. His eyes focus on the map in front of them, so he doesn't notice the look of surprise comfort on Steve's face. Loki didn't even think anything of this; he spent years doing this with Thor when they were younger, before the problems started. 

"So, we're here." Loki points one slender finger to what he assumes is their location. "Looks like we have a signal, Captain Rogers," he says and smiles at the top of Steve's head. Loki takes a deep breath and catches the scent of the other man's hair, no doubt his shampoo is something typically Midgardian hinting at the ocean and _maleness_ , softened by the freshness of the chilled air outside. 

"Yes, it looks like we do...Loki, did you just...smell me?"

Steve tilts his head as much as he can, staring into one of Loki's eyes. 

Loki looks back and shrugs his other shoulder so he doesn't dislodge Steve. 

"I might have. Concentrate on the map and find our destination for tomorrow, Captain. We have to retrieve those files if we're to help your friend regain control of his own mind," he says with that gentleness again. 

Hearing that gentleness, Steve arches an eyebrow. "You like Bucky, don't you? I mean, I get it. Everything about him is likable." 

Loki wonders how they managed to get off track in this direction. 

"Yes, I like James. He was the first one of you to actually be kind to me...aside from Stark's AI and Vision. He understands me...what I went through. We have torture and mind control in common," he answers and allows Steve to see the fondness in his smile. 

"Ohhhh, so you _liiiiiike_ him, huh?" Steve teases, and his laugh chokes when Loki swats his side and clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. 

"No, not like that. What? Are you jealous?" Loki teases right back and pretends not to be flattered by rolling his eyes. "James is a friend. Nothing more, Captain Rogers. You don't have to worry about your best friend being corrupted by me." He looks around the shack, not wanting Steve to see the way his eyes darken with the age old knowledge that he's no good. 

Steve, however, hears it in Loki's tone and wishes he could take back the teasing, except he didn't think that was the cause of the Trickster's slight mood shift. 

"I don't think you'd corrupt him, Loki. He's a good friend to have on your side, and I'm glad he's on your side," Steve tells the prince. 

Their eyes meet. They walk through the doors left just a hint open for those willing to work past the walls they'd created to protect their emotional underbellies. They hold each other's gazes, but Loki breaks first, blinks, clears his throat and gestures once more to the map. 

"S-so...the...facility where James was held, where is it in relation to where we are now?" he asks, risks a look at Steve but nods at the Stark tech to keep their focus. 

Bobbing his head against Loki's shoulder, Steve taps in the coordinates they were given to the Siberian prison-lab and moves the map as he needs to in order to see which direction they'll have to head in the morning. He sees that they're not really as far away as he thought when they first teleported in.

"There," Steve answers and hates that his voice sounds hoarse like a nervous teenager. "That's where we're headed, and it doesn't look...too far." 

He looks up at Loki again, and Loki studies the distance and makes mental notes so that he can apparate them directly there, and then he turns his head and catches Steve staring again. Loki parts his lips to speak again, but Steve silences whatever he's about to say when he pushes himself up just enough to mash their mouths together. Their first kiss – implying there might be a second – isn't sexy or romantic by any means. They're positioned awkwardly, for starters, and the spontaneous nature of it makes them clumsy, and something in Steve breaks with joy that _Loki of Asgard_ is clumsy at anything. He brings one hand up to cup Loki's cheek, but the angle is wrong, so he nearly stabs the prince in the eye with a finger.

"Dammit," Steve snarls and pushes himself onto his side to face Loki, once more making a try to hold the other man's cheek. This time, their kiss is a little more sophisticated, and their lips part at the same time, tongues seeking each other, Loki's tentative, as if he's worried he'll spook or break Steve. Steve's is determined, however, and he's as surprised as Loki about the fierce need that came out of nowhere. 

The two men could kiss forever before one had to surrender for a breath, but Loki is the sensible one and breaks away from Steve's mouth. At first, he keeps his lowered eyes closed while his heart punches against his ribcage. He places a hand on Steve's chest to hold him at bay then slowly lifts his chin to stare into that ridiculously handsome face. Seeing a look of concern makes him smile indulgently at Steve, and he touches a kiss to the tip of his nose. 

"Not going to complain about any of that, but...you should contact Fury, and then we should sleep. Tomorrow will be a long day, especially if we want to make it home with the intel by dinner," Loki says on an exhale. This time when he stares into Steve's eyes, he's resolute until Steve nods and returns to the Stark tech to make contact. 

Loki lets go of another deep breath and shifts around on the stack of blankets. He waves his hand at the foot of the bed, and a thick, soft fur appears, which he fumbles his hand for while listening to Steve speaking to Nick Fury. The quick message tells him the conversation is verbal alone, and Fury can't actually see where they're holing up. There's no shock or questions about why the two men are sharing sleeping space or half- naked. When the contact comes to an end, Loki lifts a hand, and the lights dim. 

"They know we're good now, and Fury's gonna have an extraction team ready at the rendezvous point you'll teleport us to when we're done," Steve explains as he sets the Stark tech aside and curls up on his side. He stares at Loki's naked shoulder peeking above the fur that he pulls over him as well now. "All there is to do now is the mission itself and then home." It dawns on Steve that Loki said _make it home_ and not _make it back to the Avengers Tower_ or just _the tower_ , and for some reason, it makes him smile. 

"Sounds good," Loki responds, already sounding sleepy. He snuggles back toward Steve's body on instinct and doesn't move when Steve spoons right up against him and drapes an arm over his waist. After all, despite his warming spell, they should still share body heat, yes? "Mmm...goodnight, Captain Rogers," he states and pins Steve's hand to his stomach. 

Steve kisses the back of Loki's shoulder and cuddles into Loki's body to share his warmth. He laughs. 

"At this point, Loki, I think you can call me Steve." 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I borrowed a thing and a line from Hannibal, but it just happened. The boys didn't give me much of a choice.


End file.
